Chapter 1312 Balanced Distribution
When people expect a perfect draw, what are they expecting?
Balance.
It's like the World Cup.
Although the knockout stage is the showdown for the championship, many fans believe that the real excitement is in the group stage and the first half of the knockout stage.
On the one hand, teams from different countries have appeared one after another on the World Cup stage to show their strength; and when the strong teams have not yet fully entered the form, they create dangerous situations, even force a draw or even defeat the strong teams unexpectedly. The thrilling and suspenseful group stage is always full of surprises.
Secondly, traditional strong teams practice cooperation and find their form through the group stage, hoping to enter the knockout stage and prepare step by step for the championship. The closer and more intense the game is likely to be in the first half, and the collisions are often full of surprises, reinterpreting competitive sports.
It is also because of this that when drawing lots, people often do not want to see groups with too big a gap in strength:
Although the one-sided crushing looked easy and refreshing, it lacked the thrilling chemical reaction; moreover, the strong teams did not feel the intensity of the competition in the group stage, and they might not be able to keep up with the rhythm in the knockout stage, but instead ended up being eliminated early in an upset, which is a result that fans do not want to see.
So, the group of death is good, exciting and wonderful, but the real perfect draw still requires balance after all.
Generally speaking, tournament organizers prefer death groups because it means a clash of strong teams, which means that strong teams may be eliminated early, which is not conducive to melodrama and drama, and is good for ratings; neutral fans and the general public prefer balance, and exciting duels with a hundred flowers blooming and many heroes competing for supremacy are more interesting.
It is precisely because of this that every time the draw results for the Champions League or the World Cup are announced, netizens cry out for "shady dealings" when they see the shocking death groups.
Obviously, the audience expects to see a more balanced draw, not only to support their own team, but also for the strong confrontation in the knockout stage.
The same is true for tennis.
This year's French Open draw was called "perfect", not only because of the quarterfinal matchups, but also because each division was relatively balanced, which was indeed rare.
In the 2/4 zone, Murray is in charge and will face Ferrer in the quarterfinals.
Like the 1/4 zone, Murray and Ferrer are also players with stable performances and highlights in this year's clay court season, and the matchup is just right.
The former remains undefeated in the clay court season and his odds of winning the championship are second only to Djokovic. He and Djokovic are the only two players who have won all the French Open warm-up matches this year.
The latter is still "stable". Although there is no championship in the clay court season, we should not forget Ferrer's competitiveness at any time and in any tournament.
If the two players meet in the quarterfinals, it should be a tough battle. Murray is currently leading with nine wins and five losses, but Ferrer remains undefeated on clay.
In addition, players such as Simon, Pospisil, Kyrgios, Isner, Goffin, Cilic, Troicki, Mayer and others have gathered here. There are highly-anticipated new generation players as well as middle-aged players who have always performed stably. Although there is a lack of clay court masters, the strength is average.
Among them, the one that people pay the most attention to is undoubtedly Kyrgios. His upset victory over Federer in Madrid made people believe that he can make a difference.
But the real professionals will pay attention to Goffin's performance. The little player just defeated Tsonga in Rome last week and advanced to the quarterfinals thanks to Murray's retirement. He almost pulled Ferrer down but unfortunately stopped.
Don't forget that Belgium also has a lot of clay courts. The players emerging here cannot be called clay court experts, but they are definitely not weak.
Maybe, with a little luck and a little spark, a dark horse could emerge from this division.
In zone 3/4, Federer is in charge and will face Berdych in the quarterfinals.
Whether it is Federer or Berdych, both are familiar faces. The overall performance of both players in this year's clay court season has been slightly ups and downs, with highlights and lows, so the focus is not on their strength, but on their state after arriving at Roland Garros.
Naturally, there is no need to elaborate on these.
What's really interesting about this division is the other players:
Firstly, there are two French natives that are in focus hoping to get into this division, Monfils and Pouille, as well as two wildcard local players.
Compared with Australia, this generation of French players is very comprehensive. Tsonga, Monfils, Gasquet and Simon all have a place in the professional tennis world, each with their own strengths and styles. On the contrary, the young players of the post-90s generation are worrying, as there is only one Pouille at present.
At this year's French Open, the performance of the host players also attracted much attention.
Secondly, there are a series of focus figures worthy of attention, including Wawrinka, Gulbis, Karlovic and Schwartzman.
Thirdly, there are powerful clay court masters, such as Lopez, Pablo Cuevas, Klizan, Lajovic, Granollers, Damir Dzumhur and so on.
Objectively speaking, neither Federer nor Berdych are authentic clay court players, and their form has been up and down this season. Although they are still favored to meet in the quarterfinals, it would not be surprising if an upset occurred. The grand occasion of a hundred schools of thought contending will undoubtedly make this division the biggest highlight of the year.
Especially Monfils and Wawrinka, these are two names that absolutely cannot be ignored. They both have the ability to launch an attack towards the quarterfinals.
Death zone?
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Hard to say.
But professionals have also said that this should be a division with a relatively open competition landscape, especially before the quarterfinals, there should be a melee.
In the 4/4 zone, Gao Wen is in charge and will face Nadal in the quarterfinals.
If we have to choose a death zone, then it must be here. Whether it is Gawain or Nadal, they will not give up the victory easily; moreover, this group of quarterfinals is also the closest, most intense and most suspenseful one among the four zones. Everything is possible.
Of course, the two players will also need to go through some tests if they want to advance to the quarterfinals, especially Gao Wen, whose first clay court Grand Slam is not that easy.
In the division, you can see a series of familiar names: Tsonga, Dimitrov, Fognini, Robredo, Anduar, Querrey...
Moreover, it is particularly noteworthy that a series of names of the new generation of players born in the 1990s, such as Coric, Sok, Busta, Thiem, etc., are all crowded here. In addition, Dimitrov and Gao Wen both fell into this division, which is also jokingly called the "youth storm" gathering place by the media.
The media once again emphasized that Gawain is definitely the leader of the current younger generation. It is precisely because of this that the young players are eager to defeat Gawain and prove themselves. As the season progresses, such challenges will become more and more numerous. Now that they have come to the French Open, they seem to have the opportunity.
However, "balance" is definitely the main theme of this year's draw, even in small divisions.
All of these players are scattered in different places on the draw. If they want to advance to the front of Gao Wen or Nadal, they may need to face competition from each other.
This means that the difficulty of Nadal and Gao Wen's draw is relatively even; at the same time, it also means that there may be exciting duels in every round, spreading the highlights of the event to every day of the first week.
(End of this chapter)